


Paper Boy (Jalex)

by Merrickk



Category: All Time Low
Genre: Alex Gaskarth - Freeform, BoyxBoy, I'm Sorry, Jack Barakat - Freeform, Jalex - Freeform, Jalex Oneshot, M/M, SUPER CHEESY, all time low - Freeform, extremely cliche, fluffy shit, kinda cute idk, might make u ill, pretty damn gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-06-09 07:43:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6895996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merrickk/pseuds/Merrickk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When is it not jalex,, Anyways, this is just something I started writing a long ass time ago and never finished so here you go. Jack moves to the tiny lil town of Amethyst where there's nothing to do but look at the cute paper boy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> AU where Jack is super outgoing and Alex is a shy lil boy, Also Amethyst, as far as I know, is not a real place. this is purely fiction.  
> This is gonna be two parts,, if ur reading part one before part two is up then part two will be posted soon I promise!  
> Now,  
> Jack and Alex belong to Jack and Alex!  
> All Time Low does not belong to me!  
> Everything is fake I made it up!  
> PLEASE COMMENT I WILL PAY GOOD MONEY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You probably already read the summary ok cool

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I typed the second half of this on a phone and it was amazingly difficult 0/10 would reccomend.   
> Part one of two that's it yea

Jack had moved to Amethyst the first week of summer break.

And he was _not_ thrilled.

Moving from the city to a small town, or village one might say, was not the best time of Jack's life. While Amethyst was cute and quiet, Jack missed the rush and noise of the city. He missed all of his friends and he missed the commotion of the always busy streets. Amethyst was boring and empty and now that summer was here, way too warm. 

Amethyst was less of a town or even a village and more of a small complex of houses on a few paths along the sea. With the size of the town, no matter where you lived in Amethyst you were very close to the sea. A few docks had boats with tall sails and most of the men in the village fished for a living. Through the town was the prominent smell of salt water and the entire place just smelled _old._ It had been built long before even Jack's grandparents were born, and the place barely even had technology. Did anyone realize what year it was? There was no service in Amethyst, and absolutely no internet. Jack didn't know how he'd live.

Jack's parents had split around three years ago, but his parents had shared custody until this year. Jack was to move with his mom while his dad stayed in the city. 

After only a week in Amethyst, Jack had decided that the small town was his definition of Hell. He had always been a very social guy and this place had no people. none. 

Back in the city, Jack had many friends and could easily talk to people. He had never been afraid to speak to people, and he never hesitated to speak his mind. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to talk to anyone here considering he had only seen about 3 people since he'd arrived.

Well, Jack hadn't exactly left the house either. But he was sure he wouldn't find people even if he did. 

\---

After exactly 9 days of living in Amethyst, Jack had discovered what he thought to be the only good thing in this town.

The paper boy.

He first saw him on the fourth day after moving in. He rode his bike down the path and tossed newspapers in front of every house, including Jack's. The boy kept his head ducked down low and Jack wondered how he didn't run into trees and poles and cars if he wasn't even looking up. He also noted that the boy's hair covered his eyes, making it even harder to see where he's going. He was the only person who Jack had seen that wasn't over 40 years old, and Jack wanted to learn more.

\---

Naturally, Jack waited outside after two weeks to meet the paper boy. He had done enough far away observing from his window. This was the real deal. 

It was only about ten minutes before the paper boy showed up. Jack waited for him to stop in front of his house and then approached him. 

"Hi," Jack said loudly.

"uh, hey" the boy mumbled. He looked up and Jack saw his face up close for the first time. His eyes looked like the fucking sea and he was so beautiful and Jack wasn't usually at a loss for words but he couldn't think of what to say next and he was so confused because real life isn't this dramatic.

"Um, I'm new here" Jack stuttered and he wanted to scream because _Jack Barakat doesn't fucking stutter ._ "You know, new in...town," and this was new to Jack because he always knew what to say but this felt like he wasn't in control of his words at all. 

"...alright, well enjoy your paper and uh, I hope you like it here," the boy spoke quietly.

"I will," Jack said, and the boy handed him his paper. That was it and the annoyingly beautiful paper boy was gone.

\---

Jack wondered for hours why the boy had such an effect on him. It was usually so easy to find words to him, but this time it just wasn't happening. He decided he just hadn't really interacted with anyone for too long and it caused speaking to be more difficult. That was it. 

\---

Jack went out the next day to wait again. And the day after that. And after that. For a whole two weeks, Jack had greeted the paper boy every morning and spoke to him. The other boy was obviously shy and basically the opposite of Jack. Over two weeks, all that Jack had learned about the boy was the following:

His name was Alex, he was born and raised in Amethyst. He was 15 years old (a year younger than Jack). He was delivering papers to make money over the summer, and he could sing. He could sing _so_ well. Jack heard his voice every morning as he sang while he rode and it never ceased to amaze him. 

Jack had easily gotten over his difficulty in speaking to the boy, and they now talked every day. Jack had even made the other boy laugh a few times. He still knew next to nothing about the boy since usually their conversations included talking about the town and the weather and how loud the neighbor's dog barked.

Jack wanted to change that. Today, he decided, he would do something different. He would talk to the boy and learn more about him. He would ask him to hang out or something. He was basically just going to wing it.

\---

Jack walked outside to wait at the same time he did every morning, and when the boy arrived, he stopped to talk as usual. 

"Hi Alex," Jack said as the boy fished the paper out of his bag. 

"Hello," the boy said back, peaking up through his long hair and giving a small friendly smile. He put down the kickstand of his bike and sat back. It was the same as it always was. They would talk for a minute and Alex would leave with a 'have a good day and enjoy your paper.' But not today.

Jack looked at the back of the bike and saw the two pegs. He suddenly knew what his plan was.

"Hey, I noticed that you had pegs on your bike," he gestured to the pegs. Alex nodded.

"Yeah?" he said.

"Have you ever given anyone a ride before?" Jack asked. 

Alex shook his head. "Not anyone besides my brother," he said.

"Would you give me a ride?" Jack asked, displaying a huge grin.

"What?" Alex asked.

"Come on, I can help you deliver the papers. It would be fun."

"I mean I uh, I guess so..." the boy said.

"Sweet!" Jack said as he stepped onto the pegs. "Can you carry my weight?"

"I mean- I'm not weak," Alex said. 

"I didn't think you were, now let's go." Jack said.

"Uh, where to?" Alex mumbled again.

"On your normal paper route, silly." Alex nodded and started pedaling.

After the route was over, Jack and Alex had gotten closer and had only crashed into one tree. Jack went to sleep that night satisfied.

\---

The next morning, Jack woke up and the first thing he did was check the clock. Of course, he'd woken up too late to see Alex pass by on his route. He was pretty damn disappointed. When he walked into the kitchen his mom was already there. 

"Morning sunshine," she said, eyeing his mess of hair and tired face.

"Morning Mom."

"Have any plans for today?" she asked. Jack gave her a look that said 'do you really think I have anything to do,' "Good! Because I want you to go explore town. There's plenty of nice little places and the sea is beautiful."

"I'd really rather not,"

"Come on. We've been here for nearly a month and from what I've seen you haven't gone out at all." Jack rolled his eyes.

"There is absolutely nothing to look at here,"

"How would you know if you haven't tried? Anyways, you need to get out. You're going to become a hermit."

"Fine, I'll go out today. Later." Jack sighed. His mom gave him a look of disbelief and grabbed her bag to leave. 

Around 2 pm Jack finally got outside. He wandered down the path from his house, passing by all of the nothing in the world on his way. Wow, trees and houses and dirt. Fascinating.

He walked to the end of the path and turned left. It was _insanely_ hot outside and he wanted nothing more than to be back at his house. Down the road he was on was a tiny restaurant. Jack headed towards it, imagining it would be much cooler in there than outside. Making his way down the street, Jack saw a familiar bike outside of one of the smallest houses there. In such a miniature town, why wouldn't he just happen to walk past the paper boy's house? _Would it be weird to show up at his house the day after they'd just really met_? Jack wondered for a second. _Yeah, yeah it would._ He kept walking.  
Jack made it to the end of the street, surprised he didn't faint from heat exhaustion. He turned left into the restaurant and sat down. The place was nicer than he'd expected, the walls were pale yellow and had pictures of the sea hung all over them. It smelled like fresh baked bread and happiness. And, best of all, it wasn't 900°.  
A waitress walked over who couldn't have been much older than Jack.  
"Can I get you something to drink?" she asked, pulling out a notepad. Jack fished in his pockets to see how much money he had. Broke as he was, his pockets contained 4 dollars and 13 cents, a piece of gum, and a rubber band.  
"Can I get a coffee?" He asked. The waitress nodded, writing on the pad.  
"Would you like any cream?"  
"Uh, no" she nodded again  
"Will that be all"  
"Yeah," Jack said. The waitress walked away and Jack sat looking around. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, hoping he may have a signal of some sort. A notification popped up on his screen.  
'Connect to: Penny's wireless' Jack hit 'connect' and instantly checked everything on his phone. A few messages from old friends and a few likes on posts. Lots of "I miss you!" comments from people he never even spoke to back in the city. He responded to a few. 'I miss you too', 'I'm doing fine', 'no, I don't have a new girlfriend'. Jack set down his phone when he saw the waitress was back with his coffee. He took the mug and thanked her, assuring her he did not need anything else before she left.  
He took a sip of his coffee. _Not bad,_ he thought. _But definitely not the best._ He never drank straight coffee, he had no idea what he was doing. He drank slowly, using the internet while he had it. After about twenty minutes, he stood up and walked to the counter.  
"That'll be $2.35," said the lady at the register. Jack handed the money over and thanked her before stepping back outside.  
The heat was like a shock. In the span of thirty minutes it had seemed to increase by a thousand degrees. The air was like soup and he felt like he was swimming in it. Jack started back down the road to his house, drinking in the liquid air. He wiped sweat from his forehead and tried to pick up his pace before he died. He looked back to Alex's yard and this time saw a person. The bike was still there so he assumed Alex was there, too. He approached the person who he assumed was Alex's mom.  
"Hi, is Alex home?" He asked her, not worrying that it was weird because he was hot as fuck and he honestly didn't care. The woman turned around and looked Jack up and down.  
"He's actually down by the docks, are you a friend of his?" She asked, making it pretty obvious that Alex didn't frequently have friends around.  
"Um, yeah you could say that. Alright well, I was just wondering. Thank you," Jack said. He continued walking toward home, he couldn't stand this heat much longer.  
Once he was home, Jack changed into a less sweat-soaked shirt and replaced his jeans with shorts. He sat down on the couch, flipping through the few channels offered in his neck of the woods. He found a Spanish soap opera that seemed interesting enough although he couldn't understand it at all. After around one boring hour, Jack's mom came home from work. Setting down her bag, she said to Jack,  
"Did you actually go anywhere today?"  
"Yeah, I did" his mom gave him a look that told him she definitely wasn't believing it.  
"I swear I did. You know what, I even have a reciept from a coffee that I got at Penny's so if you need me to-"  
"Alright, alright, I believe you." she said. She headed upstairs to do god knows what, no longer interested in Jack's day. Around 5, Jack heard a knock at the door. He opened it to see Alex standing there.  
"Uh, hey Alex" Jack said. He was confused as to why he was there, but he didn't know who else he'd expected it to be.  
"Hey, uh, my mom said you were, at my house earlier and uh, you know, I was wondering if- uh, if you needed something or... yeah." he said, pulling at his shirt hem.  
"No, no it was just hot out and I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out or something because I guess you're my only friend," Jack said. _Shit,_ he thought, _that makes it sound like he was my last resort_. But Alex was just surprised Jack had said he was his friend.  
"Oh, alright. Well I guess I'll get going then." Alex started to turn around when Jack spoke up.  
"Actually, would you like to hang out now?" Alex turned back to him and shrugged.  
"Uh, yeah, sure" he said after a second. Jack stepped to the side and let Alex in. Alex looked around.  
"Your house is nice, a lot bigger than mine." He noted.  
"Yeah, it's a bit of a change from the cramped apartment I lived in back in the city."  
"You, um, lived in the city?" Alex turned to face Jack again.  
"I did, for my whole life until last month actually. "  
"Why did you move here?"  
"A change, I guess. Breath of fresh air." Alex nodded.  
"I've lived here my whole life." He said.  
"Seems kind of... boring, " Alex shrugged.  
"Could be worse. I don't like being with a lot of people so it was pretty perfect for me." Jack nodded. Alex spoke so quietly it was hard to understand him.  
"Do you want to go upstairs? I have video games and stuff. We have a tv too but it's all Golden Girls and cooking shows."  
"And...Spanish programs," Alex noted what was playing at the moment.  
"Yeah," Jack said. A slight awkward quietness occurred. "Okay let's go upstairs." He lead Alex up to his bedroom and shut the door behind them.  
"You're not a serial killer right?" Alex asked. His blank expression made it hard to tell if he was even joking. Jack laughed anyways.  
"No, are you? " he joked. Alex smiled and shook his head. He looked around Jack's room, taking everything in. Despite the largeness of the house, Jack's room was pretty small. He saw Alex's lips turn up into another smile.  
"See something you like?" He asked. Alex pointed to one of his posters.  
"You listen to Green Day?" Alex asked. Jack was surprised, Alex didn't strike him as someone who would really be interested in Green Day.  
"Hell yeah I do." He answered, sitting on his bed and pulling out a box of cds, containing every Green Day album currently produced. Alex raised his eyebrows.  
"Nice,"  
"What's your favorite album?" Jack asked  
"Probably Insomniac," Alex answered. Jack nodded and pulled said album from the box.  
"Here we go." He put in the cd. "You really don't seem like someone who'd listen to Green Day," Jack said. Alex let out a small laugh.  
"You really don't know me yet." Jack didn't even bother wondering what he meant.  
For the next 32 minutes and 49 seconds, Jack and Alex listened to Green Day and talked for a while. Well, Jack did a lot of talking and Alex did a lot of listening. But it worked out. When the album was over, Alex got up from his spot on Jack's bed and stretched his arms over his head.  
"Well, I'd uh, better get going now," he said. Jack took him downstairs and offered to walk him home. Alex refused because he'd ridden his bike and he didn't want to make Jack trail behind him down the road as it would be pointless.  Jack went to bed again feeling on top of the world. He had an actual friend in Amethyst.  
\- - -  
The next morning Jack woke up and listened to Insomniac again. He thought about Alex and what an odd guy he was. Jack guessed it was because he'd lived in Amethyst his whole life. That seemed like it'd take some sort of toll on you. He thought it was odd that Alex was so shy sometimes but other times he could carry a conversation. He thought it was odd that Alex didn't seem anything on the outside like he was on the inside, at least the inside Jack knew. He thought it was odd how quickly Alex had become friends with him.  
Somehow Alex's company was much different than Jack's friends back in the city. His old friends formed bonds on how cool you were or how much shit you could spread about other people. Jack was starting to realize how absolutely petty that was. He couldn't really tell what his new friendship with Alex was being formed from. Something in his head said it was because there was nobody else in miles to talk to. But something else in him said it was because he was different. He had something in him that Jack admired a hell of a lot and he didn't know what it was. His shy personality, his eyes, his uniqueness-  
Damn.  
_Damn_.  
Did he have a fucking crush on the paper boy?


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2. You probably read the summary already ok.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this whole part on my phone in a car. If there are any mistakes just tell me and I'll try to fix them!! Feedback is STRONGLY appreciated. I'll love you forever. Ok yes

Jack was confused to say the least. He'd always just assumed he was straight. Yeah, he noticed Alex's attractiveness the first day they'd met. But knowing that someone is attractive is different than wanting to date them, he thought. But Alex seemed so appealing to Jack. He kind of really wanted to kiss him. And take him on cute dates. And hold his hand. Just a little.  
Jack had dated a few girls in his life, but he'd never really felt attraction to guys as strongly as he did now. He wondered if it was because he just was craving some type of human interaction.  
He really didn't care if he was gay or not, it was just new to him. He was just confused.  
\- - -  
When Alex came by on his paper route, Jack walked out to see him.  
"Morning! " he yelled across the front yard. Alex set out his kickstand and waved. Jack walked over in front of him and took the paper. There was a bit of hand touching and Jack felt that super cliche movie thing where they explain it as "fireworks were flying and there were butterflies in my stomach" but Jack felt more of a tiny spark and no butterflies. Maybe a moth. It was still nice.  
"It's so nice out today," Jack noted.  
"It is. It, uh, it was so hot yesterday, this is a nice difference." Alex responded. Before Jack could say anything else, Alex spoke up again.  
"I was wondering if um, if maybe, you might want to you know-um," Jack wondered how it felt to find it that hard to speak all of the time. What could be so bad about talking that it was physically hard to speak?  
"Do you want to hang out again today? I can show you around, around the docks and, yeah." Alex spit out.  
Jack smiled. "Of course. When?" Alex breathed a sigh of relief, as if he thought Jack would say no.  
"When my route is over I guess, maybe half an hour? I'll, uh, I'll come get you if you want," he said. Jack nodded.  
"Sounds good. I'll be here! See you then." and Alex was off. Jack went inside to his room and changed, he had still been wearing the same clothes as the previous day. When he walked back down the stairs, he saw his mom about to leave for work.  
"Hey, I'm going to hang out with a friend today. We'll be at the docks." He said, putting on his shoes. His mom waved her arm, dismissing anything he'd just said. Jack shrugged and walked out the door. Alex should be there soon. Around ten minutes later, he heard the bike coming back up the street. He stood up and took out the earbuds he'd had in, walking down his front stairs. He waved to Alex, who hopped off his bike and waited for Jack to get there before he started walking with it. They got to the end of the road and Alex pushed his bike into the front yard and left it there. He walked up the front walk to his house.  
"I'm gonna get a drink, do you want anything? " he asked, opening his door.  
"Yeah sure" Jack replied. Alex stepped inside and turned around.  
"You can, um, come inside you know," Jack walked to the door.  
"Yeah, of course," he said, awkwardly walking inside. The house was a mess. It looked like Jack's room on a bad day. Obviously, Jack didn't say anything. That would be rude, and besides- the house seemed like more of a home than his, which was always made to look so nice you couldn't tell people even inhabited it. This house made it obvious people lived there. Alex walked through all of the trash to the fridge.  
"I really do apologize for the mess," he said, obviously embarrassed. Jack smiled.  
"You saw my room man, I don't mind messes."  
"Still..." Alex started.  
"Really, don't worry about it."  
"What do you want to drink?" Alex asked. Jack grabbed a water out of the fridge.  
"I'll take this thank you." He said. Alex took the same and started back towards the door. They walked out and down the street, turning a few corners before Jack could hear the waves hitting the shore. He saw the docks with people loading and unloading crates from ships.  
"Here we are," Alex said. Jack looked around. It was the first time he'd actually been to the sea since he'd moved, and it was actually pretty beautiful. It seemed like it had no end. The breeze coming off the water made the air seem a lot cooler. The boys approached the ships, which were a lot bigger up close. A man wearing overalls with a long beard jumped off a ladder from one of the decks and greeted Alex.  
"Morning boy, how're you today?" He had an unrecognizable accent that Jack definitely wasn't expecting out of him.  
"I'm fine Sam, just fine. Where are you off to today?" Alex replied. He spoke louder and with a more confident air. He was obviously comfortable with the man. Jack hoped maybe one day he'd speak the same to him.  
"Ah, off to net some fish to ship up to the cities. Who's this?" He gestured to Jack, who smiled back at him.  
"This is my, uh, friend. Jack. He's new around here, never been to the docks." Sam shook Jack's hand with a lot of strength. Jack felt a lot smaller all of a sudden.  
"Nice to meet you. How're you liking Amethyst?"  
"It's definitely different. An experience." Jack didn't really know what to say.  
"You don't seem like you're from anywhere around here. I can tell by the way you speak. Up in the cities I'd bet." Jack was surprised at his guess.  
"Yeah, actually." The man nodded. Alex turned to Jack.  
"He can tell you a lot more than that. Sam, what's Jack's personality like?" Sam looked Jack up and down.  
"Confident. Outgoing and not afraid to speak his mind. Polar opposite of you, Alex." Jack raised an eyebrow.  
"Well, you're not wrong," he said.  
"Well of course I'm not!" He laughed. "You know what they say, opposites attract." he winked at Jack. Alex just laughed while Jack was taken aback for a second. What did he mean by that? He couldn't tell everything, right? By the way Alex was laughing, Jack assumed it was a joke.  
"Well boys, I'd better be off. Set to sail in 20. I'll see you around again." He waved. Alex said his goodbyes and Jack mumbled out a 'nice to meet you'.  
"Ah Sam, what a hoot." Alex said to nobody in particular.  
"Can he really tell all of that just by looking at me?" Jack asked. Alex shrugged.  
"Guess we'll never know." He said. He grabbed Jack's shirt sleeve, taking him by surprise. "Come on, I want to show you something." He said. Jack trailed closely behind Alex, who greeted a few people who stood on the dock. There was hardly anyone outside, but then again there was hardly anyone in the town. They arrived at some rocks near the water. Alex stepped down onto a rock and motioned for Jack to go with.  
"Are you sure it's safe?" Jack sounded like an idiot.  
"Of course it is. Come on." Alex seemed a lot less worried after speaking to Sam. Jack stepped slowly down onto the rock, and followed Alex down a few more. Alex turned back around and shouted over the sound of the waves.  
"I, uh, want to show you something but I'm going to need to help you down. Let me go down first." Alex stepped down through a small crack between two rocks and kept sinking down until only his neck was above the ground. Jack looked down at him.  
"What am I supposed to do?" He asked. Alex reached up a hand.  
"Come here. I've done this a million times but you might need help." Jack stepped towards his open hand, sitting on one of the rocks and slipping his legs between them.  
"Ok now grab my hand I'll help you down," Alex instructed. Jack followed his direction and took his hand. He sank between the rocks as Alex had, finding the ground with the other boy keeping him steady. Jack stepped down onto the ground and ducked to look around. They were basically in a cave, the water from the sea went through the middle in a stream and light came through a few cracks in rock and the front, where it was completely open to the sea. Alex looked at Jack, waiting for a reaction.  
"Wow. How did you find this place?" He asked.  
"A few people in town know about it, it's not any kind of secret. It's just nice down here and if you walk back far enough you can go through tunnels that go under the whole town." That was the most Jack had ever heard him say.  
"It's amazing." Jack said. The town was getting more interesting by the second.  
They walked around the cave for at least an hour before going back out (which required a lot of help from Alex) and walking the rest of the docks. Jack was super focused on Alex instead of where he was walking on the way back and nearly hit a tree. Alex laughed at him and shook his head.  
"Why are you staring at me?" He asked. Jack looked away.  
"Sorry." Alex laughed again. They made it to Alex's house and said goodbyes.  
"I had a great time, thank you for showing me around" Jack said.  
"Anytime. Well um, see you later." Alex said, walking inside. Jack headed home, yet again confused.  
\- - -  
It had been two weeks since Alex showed Jack around the cave. They'd hung out more and more, and Alex was getting less awkward every time. Obviously it hadn't gone completely away yet, though. And while they got to know eachother more, Jack was just developing an even bigger crush on Alex. It was getting kind of weird.  
\- - -  
One night Jack was in the middle of playing video games when he heard something hit his bedroom window. He ignored it, assuming a stupid bug had just flown towards the light and hit the glass. The sound kept happening and after about five more times, Jack was worried his window was going to break. He opened the glass and looked down to see Alex standing down there grinning. Jack rolled his eyes and shut his window, running downstairs and out the door.  
"What are you doing? Trying to break my window?" He laughed.  
"Well I knocked on the door and nobody answered so..." Alex responded.  
"Next time just come inside man." Jack shook his head.  
"If a rock would have gone through my window my mom would have killed me."  
"Oh shut up I didn't throw them hard enough to break anything. And they weren't rocks."  
"What were they?" Jack asked.  
"Pebbles."  
"Same thing!"  
Alex laughed, "Anyways, there's fireworks at the docks tonight and I was wondering if you wanted to go. They'll be starting really soon." Alex offered.  
"Sounds fun, let's go." Jack answered. The boys headed off towards the docks. It had to be at least nine, it was dark but not dark enough to make it hard to see anything.  
Jack and Alex made it to the docks and found a spot where there were no other people to sit at. There were maybe 60 people all together on the dock, from babies to elderly people. There was a buzz going over everyone as people spoke to their families and a few dogs barked and all of the noise mixed with the waves hitting the docks made the town seem more alive than it had ever been. There were lights strung over the poles of the dock and people handed out glow sticks to the kids. When the glow stick guy passed Jack, he stopped him.  
"Can I get two of those?" He asked. The man smiled and handed him two, each with a connector on one end. Jack connected the two glow sticks in a ring and places it on top of Alex's head.  
"Glow prince," he noted. Alex smiled.  
"How do I look?" He laughed.  
"Beautiful." Jack replied, smiling bigger than he had in a long time. The buzz dulled down as the sound of the first firework crackled in the sky. Jack looked up and saw a bright red and blue spark shower. Two more went off, then five more, then ten more, until the air was illuminated by all of the colored light. Jack felt the happiest he had since he moved to Amethyst. He looked over at Alex who was entranced by the fireworks. He looked beautiful and Jack couldn't handle it.  
The fireworks ended after about twenty minutes and people started getting up Jack still sat on the ground next to Alex, talking about how nice the fireworks had been when one stray explosion of color went off and sent a surprised Alex falling backwards onto Jack. He caught Alex in his arms, both of them recovering from the shock. Alex looked up after a second and sat back up quickly, embarrassed.  
"That was unexpected," he laughed, blushing. Jack smiled back. He adjusted the glow stick crown on the other boy's head. He looked into Alex's eyes for a second before looking away and beginning to get up.  
"Let's go I guess." Jack said.  
They both got up and followed the small crowd off the docks.  
"Would you mind walking around for a little while? I don't really want to go home yet and it's so nice out." Alex asked.  
"Yeah, where do you want to go?" Jack replied. Alex shrugged.  
"Anywhere." And they did.  
They walked around until at least midnight, around the rocks and down the paths. They made their way back to the docks and Jack turned to Alex.  
"I need to ask you something, " he said. He took in a deep breath and prepared himself. He usually didn't have problems with asking people things, he was outgoing and confident just as Sam had said. But when Alex nodded, Jack felt something that he thought may compare to Alex's physical inability to speak. He just couldn't get the words out.  
Alex stepped closer and looked into Jack's eyes.  
"I might know what you're trying to say." he said. Jack looked hopelessly into the other boy's eyes, hoping he'd say what he was trying to get out himself. Instead of saying anything else, Alex stepped up even closer to the other boy and looked directly into his eyes.  
"I hope we're on the same page here," Alex mumbled quickly, hesitating for a second before pressing his lips to Jack's for a short amount of time and pulling away. (Holy role reversal yikes) He bit his lip and looked at the ground. Jack smiled, relieved.  
"We're definitely on the same page." Jack said, leaning in and kissing Alex again.  
\- - -  
The next day, Jack woke up to Alex sitting on the end of his bed.  
"What time is it?" Jack mumbled, hurriedly attempting to fix his bed head.  
"Noon." Alex replied. "You told me to just come in next time,"  
"Yeah, yeah I did. That's right." Jack remembered.  
Alex looked at him and Jack realized how gross he must have looked. "Stop looking at me I have morning face right now." He said, pulling his blanket over his face. Alex leaned over him and pulled it off.  
"You look fine. Come on, I want to go to the cave again." Alex said. Jack groaned.  
"It's too early for this."  
"It's noon. Get your ass out of bed." Jack raised his eyebrows.  
"Tiny baby Alex saying bad words? I expected better of you."  
"Oh shut up." Alex shoved the other boy playfully. He hopped up off the bed.  
"Alright I guess let's go," Jack said, standing up and searching his floor for a pair of shorts. He pulled one on and started down the stairs, Alex behind him.  
They stepped out the front door and Jack winced at the sun. They started down the road.  
"I thought about taking my bike with you on the pegs again but on the bike we can't do this," Alex grabbed Jack's hand. Jack smiled even more than he had at the fireworks.  
They walked into town and down the docks, Jack proudly holding his boyfriend's hand. They strolled past the ships and Jack saw Sam lean off the ladder. The man smiled at Jack with a knowing look. Jack smiled right back at him.

He'd really underestimated this town.


End file.
